George p



(N0 M m F KINNEY- BOTTLE:

Patented Dec. 4, 1894.

WITNESSES.

INVENTOH 4' NITED ST TES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE F. KINNEY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, JAMES N. WALLACE, AND EDWARD COPPERSMITH, OF SAME PLACE.

BOTTLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of 'Letters Patent No. 530,429, dated December 4, 1894.

Application filed September 27, 1894. Serial No. 524,259- (No model.)

To on whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE F. KINNEY, of

the city, county, and State of New York, havea common practice to counterfeit certain well known brands of liquor, mineral water, 850., which come in certain kinds of bottles bearing certain trade-marks, by refillingthe bottles with liquor or water of a cheaper sort and then selling the counterfeited article for the real one. Attempts have been made to prevent these practices by providing valves in bottles which permit the liquor to be poured out but which prevent the refilling, and these attempts have resulted in failure because waysarealways found to inject liquor through the valves.

The object of my invention is to produce a very simple device which will not interfere with either the filling or emptying. of the bottle, but which will operatein a positive manner to indicate whether or not the bottle has been tampered with, a float being used which is originally held in the bottle neck but which, as the liquor is withdrawn, assumes a position in the lower portion of the bottle,

where it is held in such a way that it cannot be removed without breaking the bottle and thus, if the bottleis refilled, the consu mer sees the float in the lower portion of the bottle and knows he is the victim of a fraud and the trick is thus exposed.

To these ends my invention consists of certain features of construction and combinations of parts, which will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a bottle provided with my improved attachments. Fig. 2 is a detail section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, of thenotched rod or stem in the bottle. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the float;

and Fig. 4 is a vertical section of the same.

The bottle 10 may be of any usual construction and shape, the only diiference between this and an ordinary bottle being that the bottle '10 has arranged centra ly and longitudinally within it, a rod or stem 11, which projects upward into the bottle neck and which is provided on four sides with notches 12, adapted to engage the teeth of the float 13. The float13 is preferably made of cork, although it maybe made of any suitable material, and it is provided with a longitudinal or vertical bore 14, sufficiently large to perunit it to slide freely on the rod or stem ll.

The float 13 is provided on its upper side with a series of spring teeth 15, which should i be of material not liable to corrosion, and

these teeth are held in recesses 16 which are arranged radially in the upper part of the float 13, and the springs press against the rod 11 when the float is placed thereon, so that one or more of them is always in engagement with the notches 12 of the rod. The float is placed at the top of the rod when the bottle 7 l is first filled and, as the liquor is poured out, the float follows the liquor into the bottle and the teeth prevent it from again rising, until when the bottle is emptied, the float is at the bottom of the rod, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1.

When the float is first placed in the bottle a thread 18 is tied to or run through it, and the ends of the thread arebound between the stopple l7 and the bottle neck. The object of this arrangement is to prevent the float from rising to the bottom of the bottle in case the bottle is placed bottom side up.

From theabove description, it will be seen that the liquor cannot be poured from the bottle without shifting the float to the position in the bottle bottom, that the float is held in such a way that it cannot rise if the bottle is refilled, and hence that the original liquor cannot be successfully counterfeited.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentl l. The combination, with the bottle, of a rod arranged within it, a float held to move freely float to engage the rod, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the. bottle and the vertical toothed rod within it, of the float w mounted to slide on the rod and provided with recesses in the top, and spring teeth held in the recesses to engage the rod, substantially as described.

GEORGE F. KINNEY. Witnesses:

WARREN B. HUTCHINSON, O. SEDGWIOK. 

